Home strife could turn out to be a blessing

A new chapter: Renamed Winnipeg Book Festival takes to The Forks this fall

Winnipeg’s long-running annual literary festival returns this fall, once again featuring a slate of authors, local and beyond, ready to engage with readers.

New this year is pretty much everything else, including a new name, executive director and team of staff — as well as a shift to a tight, condensed timeline and a move to hold all events under one roof.

The festival formerly known as Thin Air/Livres en fête is now the Winnipeg Book Festival; the event takes place Oct. 1-4 at The Forks Market, with most events offering free admission.

It’s a lot of changes for the stalwart literary festival, which was run for more than two decades by Charlene Diehl, who stepped away in late 2025.

Bringing home a Fish: Group of local baseball fans open doors to Goldeyes

There’s no place like home.

But what exactly does that mean for members of the Winnipeg Goldeyes, who typically find themselves hundreds or even thousands of miles away from family and friends between May and September, trying to keep their baseball careers alive while living on shoestring budgets?

For some, home is a modest downtown hotel room or small apartment typically shared with a teammate or two. For others, there’s a more personal touch — one that truly connects them to the community they happen to be playing in.

Welcome to the world of billets, a longstanding tradition in this market that dates back to when the Fish first took flight back in 1994. They are a unique and valuable tool for the American Association organization and its players, with a dedicated group of local baseball fans who open their doors and roll out the welcome mat year after year.

Missing pet tortoise found at Oak Hammock Marsh

Nobody at Oak Hammock Marsh expected to find an African spurred tortoise wandering through the wetlands. Least of all one that had travelled more than 20 kilometres from home to get there.

Moving rail lines outside city would make Winnipeg ‘major transportation hub’

After decades of calls to move rail traffic to the outskirts of Winnipeg, a plan that would benefit residents, railways and taxpayers is now on track, says the former Winnipegger leading the way.

A rail line bypass south of the city, using Crown-owned land and the Manitoba Hydro corridor, would take 20 years to complete, remove 120 railway crossings that are a safety risk and free up about 250 acres of Winnipeg land over time for development, Lloyd Axworthy said Wednesday.

“The visions that we have have to be implemented,” Axworthy said at a news conference announcing the launch of a 90-day feasibility study to move freight rail traffic out of Winnipeg’s urban core along Manitoba Hydro’s southern transmission corridor, connecting east to west along the Perimeter Highway.

The former federal transport minister and Manitoba MP was tasked by Premier Wab Kinew in October 2024 to lead a two-year rail relocation feasibility study.

RCMP investigating four-year-old girl’s death, two younger girls’ injuries in home on First Nation

RCMP are investigating after a four-year-old girl died in suspicious circumstances at a home in Long Plain First Nation over the weekend.

Paramedics called Manitoba First Nations Police Service officers at about 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, asking for assistance at a home where the girl was reported as injured and in medical distress.

Officers helped paramedics with emergency treatment, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two other girls — a one-year-old and a two-year-old — were also found injured at the home. Paramedics took both to hospital. One of the girls was in critical condition, while the other was stable. Both are now stable.

Transcona councillor faces new sex assault charge

A city councillor charged with sex assault earlier this year faces new sex charges in a separate incident, in a case Winnipeg’s mayor called “deeply concerning.”

Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, 56, was charged Monday with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy over an October 2023 incident.

Allegations of a 2023 assault were reported to the Winnipeg Police Service in April, a month after Wyatt was charged with sex assault in relation to a 2025 incident.

In the 2023 incident, a man told police he become acquainted with Wyatt through a website in July of that year and said they met in person on more than one occasion.